Editing Light rail (section)

==Types==
It can be hard to distinguish what is called light rail, and other forms of urban and commuter rail. A system termed as a light rail in one city may be considered to be a streetcar or tram system in another. Conversely, some lines that are called "light rail" are very close to [[rapid transit]]. In recent years, new terms such as [[light metro]] have been used to describe  medium-capacity rail systems. Some "diesel light rail" systems, such as [[Sprinter (rail service)|Sprinter]], bear little similarity to urban rail, and could alternatively be classified as commuter rail with light trains.

Light rail corridors may constitute a fully segregated corridor, a dedicated [[Right-of-way (railroad)|right-of-way]] on a street, an on-street corridor shared with other traffic, a corridor shared with other public transport, or a corridor shared with pedestrians,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Light rail station infrastructure |url=https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/ckan-publications-attachments-prod/resources/9c8091e9-ca5e-4fb7-ab11-3a4b8f22fa77/ptim_11_light-rail-station-infrastructure-nov2020.pdf?ETag=88cd10876a9df0ea13955503fc732e9d |publisher=[[Department of Transport and Main Roads]] |page=19}}</ref> resulting in a much higher flexibility than [[rapid transit|heavy rail]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=This is Light Rail Transit |journal=TRB Circular |date=2003 |page=3 |url=https://www.apta.com/research-technical-resources/research-reports/policy-development-and-research-program-at-apta/ |access-date=18 March 2025}}</ref>

===Lower capacity===
The most difficult distinction to draw is that between low-floor light rail and streetcar or tram systems. There is a significant amount of overlap between the technologies; similar rolling stock may be used for either, and it is common to classify streetcars or trams as a subcategory of light rail rather than as a distinct type of transportation. However, some distinctions can be made, though systems may combine elements of both.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Streetcars vs LRT |url=https://www.edmontonstreetcars.ca/streetcarsversuslrt |access-date=22 July 2024 |website=Edmonton Radial Railway Society}}</ref>[[File:DulwichGroveStop.jpg|thumb|The [[Inner West Light Rail]] in [[Sydney]] runs on dedicated tracks, mostly along a former heavy rail corridor.]]Low-floor light rail lines tend to follow a reserved right-of-way and with trains receiving priority at intersections, and tend not to operate in mixed traffic, enabling higher operating speeds.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Light Rail |url=http://www.heritagetrolley.org/defLightRail.htm |access-date=2024-07-22 |publisher=Seashore Trolley Museum}}</ref> Light rail lines tend to have less frequent stops than tramways, and operate over a longer distance.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Walker |first=Jarrett |date=2010-03-26 |title=Streetcars vs Light Rail ... Is There a Difference? |url=https://humantransit.org/2010/03/streetcars-vs-light-rail-is-there-a-difference.html |access-date=2024-07-22 |website=Human Transit |language=en-US}}</ref> Light rail cars are often coupled into multiple units of two to four cars.<ref name=":1" />

===Higher capacity===
[[File:DLR unit 135 entering Canary Wharf station bound for Bank.jpg|thumb|The [[Docklands Light Railway]], a [[medium-capacity rail system]]]]
Light rail systems may also exhibit attributes of heavy rail systems, including having downtown subways, as in [[San Francisco Municipal Railway|San Francisco]] and [[Link light rail|Seattle]]. Light rail is designed to address a gap in interurban transportation between heavy rail and bus services, carrying high passenger numbers more quickly than local buses and more cheaply than heavy rail. It serves corridors in which heavy rail is impractical. [[Light metro]] systems are essentially hybrids of light rail and rapid transit.<ref name="GGW-19">{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Matt |date=4 April 2019 |title=Light rail? Heavy rail? Subway? Rail transit modes fall on a continuum |url=https://ggwash.org/view/71583/light-rail-heavy-rail-subway-rail-transit-modes-fall-on-a-continuum |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Greater Greater Washington |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-01-19 |title=Light-Rail Transit (LRT) |url=https://policy.tti.tamu.edu/strategy/light-rail-transit/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Transportation Policy Research |language=en-US}}</ref>

Metro trains are larger and faster than light rail trains, with stops being further apart.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Light Rail Transit (LRT) FAQs |url=https://www.torontoenvironment.org/campaigns/transit/LRTfaq#LRTvsstreetcarvssubway |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Toronto Environmental Alliance}}</ref>

===Mixed systems===
Many systems have mixed characteristics. Indeed, with proper engineering, a rail line could run along a street, then go underground, and then run along an elevated viaduct. For example, the [[Los Angeles Metro Rail]]'s [[A Line (Los Angeles Metro)|A Line]] "light rail" has sections that could alternatively be described as a tramway, a light metro, and, in a narrow sense, rapid transit. This is especially common in the United States, where there is not a popularly perceived distinction between these different types of urban rail systems. The development of technology for low-floor and catenary-free trams facilitates the construction of such mixed systems with only short and shallow underground sections below critical intersections as the required clearance height can be reduced significantly compared to conventional light rail vehicles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.treehugger.com/public-transportation/low-clearance-rapid-transit-cheaper-subways-faster-trolleys.html|title=Low-clearance Rapid Transit: Cheaper than subways, faster than trolleys|website=TreeHugger|language=en|access-date=15 November 2019}}</ref>

===Speed and stop frequency===
[[File:Kusttram2.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Coast Tram]] operates over almost {{Cvt|70|km}} and connects multiple town centres in Belgium.]]

Reference speed from major light rail systems, including station stop time, is shown below.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lightrailnow.org/myths/m_lrt012.htm|title=Light Rail Schedule Speed – Faster Than Bus, Competitive With Car|website=www.lightrailnow.org}}</ref>	
	
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! System !! Average speed (mph) !! Average speed (km/h)
|-
| Baltimore || 24 || 39
|-
| Dallas (Red Line) || 21 || 34
|-
| Dallas (Blue Line) || 19 || 31
|-
| Denver (Alameda-Littleton) || 38 || 61
|-
| Denver (Downtown-Littleton) || 26 || 42
|-
| Los Angeles (Blue Line) || 24 || 39
|-
| Los Angeles (Green Line) || 38 || 61
|-
| Salt Lake City || 24 || 39
|}
However, low top speed is not always a differentiating characteristic between light rail and other systems. For example, the [[Siemens S70]] LRVs used in the [[Houston]] [[METRORail]] and other North American LRT systems have a top speed of {{convert|55-71.5|mph|km/h|sigfig=4}} depending on the system, while the trains on the all-underground [[Montreal Metro]] can only reach a top speed of {{convert|72|km/h|mph|sigfig=4}}. [[Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority|LACMTA]] light rail vehicles have higher top and average speeds than Montreal Metro or [[New York City Subway]] trains.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://seattletransitblog.com/2009/12/30/link-light-rail-in-the-north-american-context/|title=Link Light Rail in the North American Context|date=30 December 2009}}</ref>

===System-wide considerations===
[[File:GCLR Set 9 at Broadwater Parklands 2014-09-28.jpg|thumb|The [[Gold Coast, Queensland]], [[G:link|G:Link]] light rail runs on a mix of a dedicated right of way, tunnels, and at grade intersections.]]
Many light rail systems—even fairly old ones—have a combination of both on- and off-road sections. In some countries (especially in Europe), only the latter is described as light rail. In those places, trams running on mixed rights-of-way are not regarded as a light rail but considered distinctly as streetcars or trams. However, the requirement for saying that a rail line is "separated" can be quite low—sometimes just with concrete "buttons" to discourage automobile drivers from getting onto the tracks. Some systems such as [[Link light rail|Seattle's Link]] had on-road mixed sections but were closed to regular road traffic, with light rail vehicles and buses both operating along a common right-of-way (however, Link converted to full separation in 2019).

Some systems, such as the [[AirTrain JFK]] in New York City, the [[Docklands Light Railway|DLR]] in London, and [[Kelana Jaya Line]] in [[Kuala Lumpur]], have dispensed with the need for an operator. The [[Vancouver]] [[SkyTrain (Vancouver)|SkyTrain]] was an early adopter of driverless vehicles, while the [[Toronto]] [[Scarborough RT|Scarborough rapid transit]] operated the same trains as Vancouver, but used drivers. In most discussions and comparisons, these specialized systems are generally not considered light rail but as [[medium-capacity rail system|light metro]] systems.